HAMMOND, LA. – The Sam Houston State Bearkats showed their defensive prowess in the fourth quarter allowing only three points in the final seven minutes of the game picking up a 57-52 road win Wednesday night over Southeastern Louisiana at the University Center.

It was the first Southland win for the Bearkats (4-13, 1-7 SLC) and snaps a 10-game losing streak overall, while the Lions (3-16, 2-6) failed to pick up their third Southland win in as many games.

The Kats started off sluggish scoring only five first quarter points compared to Southeastern’s 12, but managed to tie it at 16 in the second thanks to three straight Jenniffer Oramas triples and a Kiera McKinney jumper. The Kats then stormed out of the locker room outscoring the Lions 39-27 in the closing half.

Oramas led the Bearkats with a career-high 24 points on 6-for-9 shooting, including a trio of 3-point baskets in the second period to go with eight rebounds and three assists. Ashleigh Cooper, Lydia Baxter, and Jada Ballew each scored eight a piece.

Charliee Dugass and Jaclyn Scholvin both paced the Lady Lions with 10 points each while the Kats held the conference’s second leading scorer Taylin Underwood to six points off of 2-23 shooting.

UP NEXTThe Bearkats will finish their four-game road trip against Piney Woods rival Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches Saturday January 27th with tip-off set for 3:30 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED IN THE FIRST HALFThe first quarter was a defensive struggle with both teams combining for only 17 points with neither team eclipsing the 25 percent mark from the floor. The Bearkats didn’t get on the scoreboard until Lydia Baxter hit a free throw with 6:46 remaining in the period to make it a 4-1 game, but the Lady Lions would go on an 8-4 run to close out the quarter with Lydia Baxter beating the buzzer with a tip-in to finish the first.

Oramas took matters into her own hands hitting three straight triples to bring the Kats to within two with 6:46 remaining in the half. Kiera McKinney would then go on to hit a jumper to tie the game at 16 with 4:27 remaining.

Southeastern answered the Kats with a 9-2 run to close out the half to take a 25-18 lead into the locker room after the first 20. Sam Houston shot at a 27.3 percent clip in the first half, but was stingy on defense themselves allowing Southeastern to shoot only 25.8 percent. Sam Houston ran into the turnover bug in the first 20 minutes, losing the turnover battle 12-3.

HOW IT HAPPENED IN THE SECOND HALFThe Lions came out of the gate hot increasing the lead all the way to 34-22 with 8:19 remaining, but the Kats answered the bell, outscoring the Lions 18-10 to finish the quarter pulling all the way to within one after two Rachel Harrell free throws before Southeastern stretched the lead to 44-40 going into the final period.

The duo of Oramas and Jada Ballew came up big in crunch time, scoring 12 of the 14 Bearkat points in the final period powering the Kats to their first Southland win. The Kats defense came up big in the final period not allowing a single Lion point after a Caitlyn Williams triple with 7:04 remaining until the Lions knocked down a triple with 17 ticks remaining. The Bearkats flipped the script of poor shooting in the first half finishing with a 37.2 percent clip from the field.